Franjieh Considers Aoun, Geagea Meeting Will Not Break the Ice

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh ruled out on Sunday that any meeting between head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Gaegea will lead to a breakthrough to the presidential deadlock.

“Each politician has a different political stance and its normal for each, Geagea and Aoun, to seek to be elected as the new head of state,” Franjieh said in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Baabda Palace has been without a head of state since the end of President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure on May 25.

The differences between the rival March 8 and 14 alliances over a compromise candidate led to a lack of quorum in several rounds of parliamentary sessions.

Asked about Maronite Partiarch Beshara al-Rahi's efforts to reconcile the rival Christian political leaders, Franjieh said: “The Maronite reconciliation was carried out two years ago under the auspices of al-Rahi... Today's crisis is political.”

He voiced agreement to any initiative launched by the patriarch, however, the Christian leader considered that “Maronite parties have the right to have different political stances, which is a democratic right.”

Bkirki's spokesman Walid Ghayyad revealed on Thursday that al-Rahi “has a certain vision to implement this reconciliation starting with efforts to break the ice” among Maronite leaders.

The spokesman said that the cardinal might launch his initiative by holding bilateral talks with each of the country's top Christian political leaders.

The patriarch is setting the stage for the appropriate atmosphere that would guarantee consensus on the next president over fears from the dangerous repercussions of vacuum,” Ghayyad said.